Optus opts for SBS help amid World Cup woe

Optus has bought itself 48 hours leeway to fix World Cup streaming issues that prompted the intervention of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, agreeing to let SBS broadcast an additional four games in the next two days.

SBS onsold broadcast rights for most World Cup games to Optus Sport, but technical issues causing poor-quality match footage or no vision at all have plagued its delivery of content.

Optus chief executive Allen Lew and Mr Turnbull spoke on Monday, with the latter raising concerns about the telco's coverage during the opening weekend of the World Cup.

"He believes he can fix it and it will be fixed tonight," Mr Turnbull told parliament.

Optus has instead agreed to let SBS show the next six matches of the tournament on free-to-air TV, including four that were meant to be exclusively on Optus Sport.

"We will use the two days we have ... to robustly test the systems under different loads," Mr Lew told reporters on Monday night.

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"There's no doubt this has adversely affected the Optus brand ... but we believe the brand is stronger than just one event over three days."

Optus has offered disgruntled customers a free 'Fetch' set-top box. Mr Lew was coy when asked about the prospect of refunds.

"We will make a public announcement about that, once we announce what we are going to deliver in two days," he said.

Demand is likely to grow as the tournament unfolds; Optus has exclusive rights to broadcast some quarter-finals and round-of-16 games.

"We will make sure we have capacity for the later rounds," Mr Lew said.

The scandal, which is being monitored with interest by many sporting bodies in Australia given streaming is widely considered the future of broadcasting live sport, has already attracted the interest of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

"We are seeking further information from Optus on what steps it is taking to comply with the Australian Consumer Law," an ACCC spokesperson said.

"Under the Australian Consumer Law, services must be fit for the purpose and deliver on what was promised."

Many football fans, including those who signed up for a $15 package specifically to watch World Cup games, are furious because they've been unable to properly access the Optus broadcast.

Mr Turnbull stepped into the debate on Monday, seeking assurance from Mr Lew.

Optus had blamed the dropouts in its service on "an extremely high number of viewers logging into our platforms just before kick-off causing some systems to overload".

"The demand is no reason for us to have made the mistakes we did over the weekend, so I apologise for that," Mr Lew admitted on Monday.

SBS chief Michael Ebeid cited 2014 budget cuts as part of the reason his network, Australia's World Cup broadcaster for the past 32 years, signed the Optus deal.

But parliamentary secretary to the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, said SBS management made the decision to share the World Cup rights with Optus in exchange for some English Premier League games.